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Cancer cluster studies near end

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Thirty-five in all, the dots also surface in Weatherly, Lansford, Albrightsville, Pottsville, Minersville, Frackville and Gilberton.

Eleven of the cases, starting on Ben Titus Road in Rush Township and spreading through Tamaqua to New Ringgold, form a separate cluster of the cancer known as polycythemia vera.

Peter Jaran, a project manager for Equity Environmental Engineering of Flanders, N.J., has been plotting cases on an interactive map while participating in one of 14 studies sparked by the 2008 discovery of a high incidence of the disease in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Scientists do not know what causes polycythemia vera, which they call PV, but they suspect that clues lie within Schuylkill, Luzerne and Carbon counties.

For years, teams from the University of Pittsburgh and Drexel University as well as Mount Sinai Medical School in New York and the Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania have undertaken the research, aided by federal funding.

Now those studies are nearing the end.

Jaran said his firm will spend six months more looking at environment factors while working under a contract with the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

Did substances moving through air, water, soil, mines or groundwater carry the disease?

To gain insight, Jaran and others from Equity Environmental have combed through approximately 30 databases. They seek indications of chemicals that show up around the tri-county region. Their computers modeled how wind and weather might have dispersed chemicals released into the air and water.

On the map, they plotted sites of hazardous waste discharges, coal-burning plants and disposal sites for ash from those plants.

"That's a pretty powerful tool," Jaran said.

Using the map, he and colleagues look for common areas like parks that they should test or chemicals that escaped detection.

Equity Environmental also wants to test the air and well water at houses where residents developed the disease, but the company received a lukewarm response to 50 letters asking residents for permission to draw samples.

"Not many people have even responded. Some that have have not been in favor of us coming on their property," Jaran said.

Two representatives from Equity Environmental can test a house in 45 minutes, Jaran said. They let the water run for five minutes before drawing a sample near the wellhead, and they leave behind a canister that samples the air for radon.

Residents who permit tests will receive copies of the results and might help scientists learn what causes PV, Jaran said.

"We're trying to help these people have a better understanding of what's in their environment," he said.

People who drink from a well and have a case of polycythemia vera in their household can telephone Jaran at 973-527-7451 extension 102 if they agree to let Equity Environmental test their home.

Joe Murphy, leader of a citizens action committee for polycythemia vera in the tri-county region, said Equity Environmental's role is vital "as one piece of the puzzle" to understanding the incidences of the disease.

"If there is an environmental link, then what is it?" Murphy said.

He said Equity Environmental has been given a "Herculean" task because of the multitude of Superfund sites, smokestacks and fly ash deposits in the tri-county region.

The citizen's committee, however, in exchanges with Equity Environmental, questioned whether the investigation goes far enough. For example, Murphy said the citizens want indoor air samples taken for substances other than just radon. They prefer that Equity Environmental verify statements in reports done for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that McAdoo Associates no longer poses harm. After a Superfund cleanup ended, EPA stopped monitoring water at a McAdoo Associates site known as Blaine Street in 2001. Monitoring resumed six years later because of petroleum in the water.

"We wanted an overall look at what's going on in our environment, and if we find something, let's fix it. If we've got something that's driving the cancer, let's find out solutions for that," Murphy said.

Also, the citizens committee forwarded the names of 20 people willing to permit testing at their homes, but so far those people have not heard from Equity Environmental, he said.

From the onset, members of the citizens group who have scientific training and scientific consultants serving the group have shared ideas and reviewed progress with researchers from hospitals and universities.

Murphy said those exchanges help coalesce information.

"There are 14 projects going on. They're all pieces of the puzzle. Not one of them may come up with a smoking gun, but it's important to get a collective sense of what may be causing the PV mutation, or where do we go next?" he said.

But federal funding for the citizens group expires this year.

While the group seeks to obtain tax-exempt status and raise money, Murphy said on Tuesday morning that he does not know if the group can play its consulting role after the federal fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

On Tuesday afternoon, the federal disease registry released word that a public meeting on the polycythemia vera will be held in Tamaqua on Sept. 20. A time and address for the meeting will be set later, said Germaine Vazquez, a spokeswoman for the registry.

kjackson@standardspeaker.com

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